Schizoaffective Mania: Family History and Clinical Characteristics

Abstract

In a previous paper (Winokur 1984), bipolar patients were separated into two groups: those with and those without psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations). There were 44 bipolar nonpsychotics and 78 bipolar psychotics in the group. The morbidity risk or disease expectancy for affective disorder was 12.9% for parents and sibs of the bipolar nonpsychotics and 13.1% for such relatives of the bipolar psychotics. Apart from these trivial differences in the family history of affective illness, the two groups were compared to determine whether they differed in other respects. There were no differences in the proportion of females, the median age at index, hospitalization, or median age of onset. The groups were followed up for approximately the same time, and there were no differences in the numbers of episodes prior to admission or in the quality of improvement at index discharge. The period of continuous hospitalization in the follow-up period and the incidence of complete recoveries at some point during the follow-up period was similar in both groups.